New Ulm weekly review., 1887-03-16

self kneeling at her feet and Offering
the beautiful young maiden all that
he had to ofer-hls devotion and his
life.
The lady listend silently and with
bowed head to his ardent pleadings.
Then she said, looking up, but away
from him, and speakingly absently:
II have heard those words before"
''But never from lips 80 true, 80
honest, SO disinterested," said the
young man, warmly, forgetting, in his
fascination for the beautiful lady, how
he had certainly taken her inheritance
into account in the first place.
The lady sighed and was silent.
Then she said "H Iyield to your
wishes we must be married at once"
"At once!" cried Won Stein, per-
haps a little startled. Yet what lover
ever found the time between betrothal
and marriage to short! "I am
ready" he said, gallantly, "and i'm
patient"
The lady smiled, moved softly away
to an old worm-eaten chest which was
set against the wall, took from it two
rings and white veil and a crown OF
myrtle, which she laid upon her dark
flowing hair. Her dress was white.
Come she said to her lover, anu
led the way.
A little bewildered, after the fashion
Of bride-grooms in general, and scarce
ly knowing whether to be happy or
alarmed, the young man followed his
bride through, as it seemed to him.
miles ofdin1ly lighted vauted passages
until at length they reached vaulted
chamber, which they had no sooner en-
tered than great iron door shut heavi-
ly behind them, With sound that echo
ed through every arch of the dimly
lighted building. It was the chapel.
"Your hand is cold, my love-" said
the young man tenderly to his bride.
"No matter; yours has warmth and
life enough for both," replied the lady.
Yet the life seemed actually to ebb
from the young mans heart as he OBJ
served the stone figure of a bishop,
which was sculptured in gravestone
in the centre OF the chapel, gradually
rise from it's recumbent position and
walk up the steps Of the alter. The
eyes OF the bishop famed like glow
worms, the candles upon the alter
lighted of themselves, and the tones
of an organ rolled solemnly through
the vaulted building.
''Kurt Won Stein, wilt thou take the
lady of Windeck for thy lawful wife?"
said the bishop, in low, sepulchral
tones, which sounded as though not
he, but some mufHed voice a dozen
yards away, was speaking.
At this moment the whole horror OF
the scene seemed to break upon the
young man. Around him, slowly ris-
ing from their graves, he saw the
shrouded forms and feshless faces OF
the dead, who came to witness the
ghostly marriage. Even the face oil
his bride, as his fascinated eyes fixed
upon it, wore the livid hue of death.
He turned in an agony to fly from the
horrible scene, tried to snatch his
hand from the cold, hard grip of the
phantom lady, fell, as he believed, sense
less upon the chapel foor-and awoke
to find himself, at dawn of day, lying
at full length on the moss-grown stone
where he had sat at rest the night be-
fore, at the castle door, and his horse
intent on an early meal on the rank
herbage OF the grass-grown court.
When he told his tale in the village
and at the neighboring castles, TO one
in the least doubted that he had
almost, if not quite, laid the unquiet
spirit of the lady OF Windeck.